Unforeseen Origins
by Kae Jennings
Summary: Takes place after Fang. Max and the Flock continue their attempts to save the world. Meanwhile, Fang is working on his own mission. Why does the flock keep getting attacked? Who is hunting them now? Will Fang return?
1. Prologue

Fang stood precariously close to the edge of the cliff, watching the majestic hawks swoop around him. Why he was there, he wasn't sure. After all, he still had 19 years and 363 days (he had an official countdown) left until he was supposed to be there. But as he was flying, he felt an irresistible pull to the cave, one he just couldn't ignore.

A bitter laugh escaped him as he thought of the last time the Flock had split. The sudden sound caused the hawks to pause their show momentarily to stare at him with wary eyes before returning to their acrobatics. When the Flock had been separated because of the disagreement over Ari, he'd at least had Iggy and The Gasman, and he had known that they would soon be returning to the others.

At the time, he couldn't imagine anything more difficult. This certainly was.

He had known that leaving the Flock would be harder this time, but he'd had no idea that the pain would be so intense. Leaving, and knowing he couldn't return, was like ripping his own heart from his chest.

Fang still found the hawks pleasant, which struck him as quite odd, as he had found very little (nothing, in all honesty) pleasant since he had left the Flock. In fact, if he was being honest with himself, Fang would realize that he hadn't found much pleasant since he'd first known that he would have to leave Maximum.

He stopped himself from continuing that train of thought. Max. He couldn't afford to get caught up in visions of her hair streaming out behind her as she flew, the beautiful color of her wings, the way her eyes softened when she looked at him...

He would become lost in memories. But there was work to be done, so Fang threw himself forwards and plummeted into free fall before unfurling his wings and starting his journey.

**MAJOR**** thank-you to ****whereXtheXlinesXoverlap**** for being an amazing beta reader!**

**Disclaimer: I sadly do not own the Maximum Ride series. I did however create this particular work.**  
**  
Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

"Guys!" I yelled through the door. "Come on, get up!"

It was kind of strange, I thought, that while we were living with Anne I felt like living with an adult meant the flock would no longer need me. But here with my mom and Ella, I knew the flock was part of my family. Not that I have enough family to need an annual reunion or anything, but I knew that save for a certain ex-boyfriend, they would never abandon me.

After getting some mumbled assurance that my two favorite pyros and the newest member of the flock were awake, I went downstairs to the kitchen to see what mom had made for breakfast. Since we began living here in Arizona with her, she had been sharing the cooking duties with Iggy. When I walked into the brightly painted (except for the still smoldering crater from The Gasman's latest experiment) room, Nudge, Ella, and Angel were all ready sitting at the table. Mom was standing near the stoves.

For those who are asking, "Stoves? Why the plural?", no, it's not a typo. During our first couple of days, Mom had realized how much the flock, myself included, ate, and bought a second one. I mean, I could seriously out-eat a shark, an elephant, and King Kong... just during breakfast. What can I say? That, ladies, gentlemen, and human-avian hybrids, is genetic engineering at its finest.

"Good morni-" mom started to say, but was drowned out by Nudge.

"We made pancakes! I got to crack the eggs…" Nudge chattered away, as my attention was drawn to the large stacks of pancakes in the center of the table. "..And Angel mixed the batter, and Dr. M..."

The Nudge Channel continued as I sat at the large kitchen table. Once the babbling had quieted slightly, Ella turned to me and asked, "So what are you guys doing today?"

"Well, I was actually hoping that the flock would be willing to fly over some of the local dumps and maybe take some aerial photos we could use for pollution awareness pamphlets." Mom replied, pulling a camera out of her pocket. By "we", she didn't mean just us, but the Coalition to Stop the Madness, an environmental activist group we were all involved with.

"Whatever," I said nonchalantly. Ever since we had been living with Mom, we had been going on mini saving the world expeditions. Not that I minded or anything… it was just getting a bit stale. I mean, you'd think saving the world would be more combat, less chocolate-chip cookies.

The flock had been determined to help me save the world, so after our adventures in Antarctica, Hawaii, and Africa, I decided we should take on a project closer to home.

Why? I have no idea.

"Maybe I can come visit you later on?" Ella mumbled. "Where do you think you'll be when I get off school?"

"They should be in the North-End dump by then, but be careful Ella. Don't go inside the gates, let Max come find you." Mom warned.

Was I the only one who noticed that a certain mind-reading 7-year-old was conspicuously silent throughout that entire conversation?

The second that thought entered my head, Angel turned to me with a small smile and said, "It's okay Max, I'm just sleepy."

I had a talk with her a few days ago. She told me that she was done with the whole I-am-more-powerful-than-you-could-ever-be-and-I-will-steal-your-job-as-leader-if-it's-the-last-thing-I-do phase and that Fang's letter made her realize that I was the better leader, but I was still on guard. When you've had countless people stab you in the back, you tend not to be the most trusting person in the world.

I didn't have long to dwell on it though, as the guys entered the kitchen and became instantly awake at the scent of the fresh pancakes.

"Smells good!" Dylan said enthusiastically.

How did he already have his irritating movie star look this early in the morning? I fumed, my good mood spoiled. The rest of the Flock was sitting at the table with heavy lidded eyes, and hair sticking off in every direction. I'm sure I looked the same if not worse. I studied him again, gaining a strange look from Gazzy and an eye-roll from Angel. Nope, not a hair was out of place.

I should have realized then and there that it just wasn't going to be a good day.

**So how was the second chapter? Better? Worse?  
Each review is dearly beloved!**

**Super, insanely huge thanks to **_**whereXtheXlinesXoverlap**_** for being an awesome beta, who gives wonderfully perky pep talks.**


	3. Chapter 3

After everyone had eaten their fill of pancakes, Ella left for school, Mom left for work, and we left to tour the dumps.

We took pictures at the first three dumps, and were soaring high over the clouds on our way to the North-end dump – the last job of the day.

"So, is Ella gonna meet us there?" Gazzy asked as he soared next to me.

"If she doesn't have too much homework, I'm pretty sure that's the plan." I called over, coasting on a warm updraft. But I couldn't let myself be fooled by the wonderful feeling of flying. I was still over the dumps and lingering in the air was a putrid stench of rotting trash. And looking down, we could see the immense, hulking mounds of waste. What ruffled my feathers the most was that practically all of it was in good, if not perfect condition.

Okay. I, being a mutant freak, hadn't spent much time living with shopping trips and actually paying for things, but honestly! Over half of the so-called garbage wasn't garbage at all. It was almost brand new, thank you very much.

But then again, maybe it was just _so_ far out of style, that people absolutely _had_ to throw it out. I wouldn't know. You do tend to miss out on some of the latest trends while being locked in a dog crate for the first half of your life.

I became so lost in my thoughts that the next thing I knew we were at the dump.

Nudge took the camera first, eagerly turning it on and flicking through the settings with wide eyes.

Meanwhile, Angel decided we should play tag. And I, being an attentive leader, didn't notice until after everyone else shouted "Not it!

"Wha?" I turned towards them.

"You're it Max!" Iggy informed me, a smirk on his face. "Come catch us!"

I turned suddenly and dived towards Angel, who shrieked and flew off. Eventually, I tagged Iggy, who tagged Dylan, who tagged Nudge…

Bird-kid fun was had by all and we even got some good pictures, though my heart just about stopped every time someone would toss the camera through the air.

_Maximum? Aren't you forgetting something? _The voice asked.

Oh. You mean you don't have a voice inside your head? Wow, and they all call me a freak.

_Max, it's 3:30. _

"Ella!" I exclaimed. "She's probably here by now."

I led the flock over to the public entrance, and we landed just outside the gate.

"Well, I don't see her here," Iggy declared.

"I'm rolling my eyes, Ig," I answered as I did so.

But now that he mentioned it, where was she? I didn't see her either and, unlike Iggy, I could see everything else.

Except for the creepy robot things that had crept up silently behind us.

**I promise more virtual hugs to the special people that leave a review. **  
**Constructive criticism, comments, just dropping by to say hello, things liked or things disliked, are all welcome!**


	4. Chapter 4

I turned rapidly and side kicked the nearest 'bot in it's midsection. A blow that would have sent a grown man to the ground only made it stagger slightly before regaining its balance on spindly legs.

"We're surrounded Ig. Robots. Weak Legs." I called out, and broke the trance that held the flock. I watched them attack out of the corner of my eye, as I dispatched my attacker with a well-placed uppercut.

_Maximum Ride. Termination. Maximum Ride. Termination._

Now that they had been discovered, the flotilla was far from silent. They repeated my name and "termination" over and over, becoming a buzz that faded to the background as I became absorbed in the fight.

But it was really getting old, everyone trying to kill me. I mean, I love fighting to the death as much as the next girl, but this was a bit tedious.

I saw that Nudge was in trouble and raced over to help her. I snapped a firm kick to what I guessed would be the bot's hip, had it been human, and its leg separated from the rest of its body with a loud crack.

"Thanks, Max!" she chirped, despite our gory surroundings. Then she threw herself back into the fight, teaming up with Iggy, who had already taken two attackers out.

I checked to make sure no one else needed help, but they were holding their own.

I was proud of them. They might not be able to clean up their bedrooms, but they can clean up in a street fight. Oh, the woes of motherhood.

I darted amongst the bots. A punch here, a jab there…

While it seemed as if we had been fighting for days, it was probably only about ten minutes or so before we had destroyed all the bots.

"Report!" I demanded, wondering how badly we had been hurt by the latest attempt to kill me.

"I'm good here." Dylan called over.

"Me too," Iggy echoed him.

As I examined my flock, I noticed Angel was cradling her left arm against her chest.

"It's okay, just bruised." she told me, noticing my gaze.

I turned to look at Nudge and Gazzy. The blonde caught my eye, turned to look at Nudge, then back to me before agreeing that they were both all right.

Now that I knew they were safe, I inspected my own injuries. I had a few scrapes and scratches along my arms, but that's to be expected when you're fighting hunks of metal bent on your destruction.

Nothing that wouldn't heal by tomorrow, I thought.

In addition to the wings and other "talents" for lack of a better word, our two percent avian DNA gave us crazily fast regeneration and healing.

While that's nice, I'm still not sure whether or not it makes up for being experimented upon and tortured for the first half of my life.

You know what? Never mind. It SO doesn't.

"How's your face feel, Max?" Nudge asked me.

My face?

I reached up tentatively and examined myself, quickly finding the wound she was talking about. I couldn't quite remember how I got it, but it was deeper than the ones on my arms, and had ragged torn edges. The clotted mess stretched along my lower cheekbone, across the left side of my face.

Wasn't that just great. That would probably take a few days to heal, unlike the others.

"I'll be okay," I told Nudge. "Its not too bad."

She looked as is she was about to respond when Dylan cut her off suddenly.

"Wait, where's Ella?"

**As promised, a virtual hug goes out to **_**finefwendyouis**_**. You played such a crucial role in getting me to this point. Can you even believe that I've actually written four chapters? Without your encouragement/threats to beat me up if I didn't start writing, I honestly don't know whether or not I would have ever started this particular adventure. **

**\o/ [See, there's your hug!]**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Reviews make the world go round.**


	5. Chapter 5

**CULVER, OHIO**

That was all it said.

Fang stared at the screen of the 'borrowed' government computer.

Sure, he had gotten messages on his blog telling him where to go to find help before, but they normally consisted of "I live in Tulsa, come find me and we can save the world! ... But don't bring Max. LOOOOOOOOOVE (fill in random fan girl's name here)" or "I might not be all that different, but I want to help fight! Look me up, I'm in the Redmond phonebook." Neither of which really helped him find other genetically enhanced beings.

This one was different.

No name. No words of advice. Nothing but a place.

W.W.M.D. - What would Max do?

Surprisingly enough, asking himself that one question normally gave him the answer he was looking for, once of course, he trained himself not to think about her, just what she would decide.

He had been searching to no avail for weeks, and after all, Max had listened to the Voice when it had appeared out of the blue, he reasoned with himself."

And with that thought, he made his decision, carefully packed away his one connection to the outside world, and took flight.

**Since this chapter was so short, I figured I'd share a little memory.**

**So****, ****finefwendyouis****and I were at school and I was looking in my locker for one of my textbooks called "My Place In The World." We were running a bit late since we were supposed to be at a meeting before the next class started, which had already began about five minutes before. I was searching frantically in the bottom of my locker for the book and as I did, I complained "I can't find My Place In The World!" Just as people were walking past, whom of course heard me and stared at us until they went around the corner, which was when we burst out laughing hysterically.**

**Thanks ****again ****whereXtheXlinesXoverlap**** for your beta skills, and also a special thank-you goes out to ****GreenRiderEpic**** for letting me know I'm not just wasting my time and I'd better update now missy! Though, maybe not in those exact words. :) So I did update, however short, but I figured short was better than nothing, right?  
(c,o,m,m,a, ,o,v,e,r,l,o,a,d ,r,i,g,h,t, ,t,h,e,r,e,)**


	6. Chapter 6

Ella?

Oh my god... In the heat of the fight, I forgot Ella.

I knew I would beat myself up for this later. What kind of a "mother figure" can I hope to be when I can't even remember my own sister? But for the time being, I had to focus on finding said forgotten sister

"Maybe she didn't come," Dylan suggested, irritatingly answering his own question. His stupid hair was still looking stupidly perfect even after flying all day and participating in a fight to the death.

I turned to him, my voice tense. "Because instead of meeting us here, where we were COINCIDENTALLY attacked by robots, she remembered that Oprah was on and rushed home to watch it, not thinking that we might be the least bit worried? Gee, why didn`t I think of that?"

"Max." Iggy curtly interjected, effectively cutting off my rant.

"Okay, let's get up in the air guys. It'll be easier to see her." I told the flock, though I had a strong feeling there would be no sight of her bright red schoolbag.

Turning my back on Dylan, I took off and soared north, searching for my half-sister. When I looked back, I could see the rest of my flock spreading out to cover more ground.

Questions I was unable to answer swirled around my head over and over, becoming a horrific chant. What happened to Ella? Why isn't she here? What would I tell mom if we didn't find her? How could I look her in the eyes and tell her that it was all my fault that Ella, her daughter, was kidnapped or worse.

Every time I saw a flash of red I would swoop down excitedly to find only a broken bicycle, or a plaid sofa with a rip through it's seat, exposing several coiled springs, or a plastic bag, caught on a large piece of pipe or…

Eventually, it became clear that wherever Ella was, it wasn't that dump.

I could see some of the younger kids were tired so I called out and told them to bring it in. "It's time to call it a day guys," I sighed. "Let's go home."

We started towards mom's house, but I lagged behind. Some dusty corner of my mind was still naive enough to continue searching for my sister, even when the cause was without hope.

"Max?" Unnoticed, Iggy had fallen back and was flying near me, about two of my wingspans away. "Are you okay?"

I turned to look at him. He may not share my blood, but he is still a brother to me in all the ways that matter.

"Yeah, I'm alright." I used my Super-Max voice (You know: the one I use when I have absolutely no idea what to do, say, or be, other than strong for the younger kids).

Iggy turned his unseeing eyes on me, and appeared to be examining me as he chose his words.

"You know, no one is perfect, no matter how hard we try. We just can't do it, and even if we could, it's not expected or a necessity."

As Iggy was speaking, the voice appeared in my head again, though this time with a message much less helpful, and much more memorable.

_Remember, Max, what happens when you bend something too far. _

And that would be what exactly? I thought exasperated at the voice's dramatic fortune cookie announcements. To my surprise however, I received an answer.

_It breaks._

**Hey, Lacking Stealth. How's it going?**

**Kae loves whereXtheXlinesXoverlap, as always.**


	7. Chapter 7

I fell silent.

_It breaks? _

Somehow that didn't sound like much of a glittery rainbow of fun.

"Max?" Iggy sounded worried.

"Let's go home Ig, we'll regroup and find her." I sighed.

He turned to relay the plan to the rest of the flock while I pulled Angel aside.

"No, Max." She told me when we were a few feet from the others. "I can't feel her here."

While mind-reading was often a pain, at least it saves time, I thought to myself as we re-joined the flock and somehow managed to get our heavy hearts airborne.

When we reached my mom's split level ranch house, we landed, careful to make sure none of the neighbours were watching from their stucco-covered homes.

I might technically have been living there now but I still felt as if I would be intruding to just waltz in unannounced. I knocked twice on the familiar wooden frame and waited, my flock surrounding me.

The door swung inwards with a slight creak, but I could hardly hear it through the relief pounding through me. My jaw dropped as I made eye-contact with my half-sister.

A few minutes later, we were all seated around mom's kitchen table, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies in hand. Ella was explaining what had happened.

"…And so I had to stay so we could finish it. I couldn't have left her to do the entire project on her own. I'm so sorry guys!" she concluded earnestly through a mouth of chocolaty goodness.

"As long as you're alright." Nudge told her with a smile that quickly turned to a grimace of disgust as she watched Gazzy eat three cookies at once.

"Did you manage to get any good shots?" Mom asked.

A general murmur of agreement met her question as everyone assured her that our photos were literally sky-high.

The flock continued to happily munch on cookies while chatting, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right.

As if he knew what I was thinking, Dylan, slouched against the counter behind my chair, leaned forward and whispered "Its okay Max, none of us are going to take off. I need to be here. I won't leave you."

Yeah, because that made me feel so much better.

* * *

**Thanks as always to whereXtheXlinesXoverlap !**

**I was away for quite a while, but I'm back and intend on updating weekly at the very least.**


	8. Chapter 8

A few days after our junkyard excursions we were still with my mom and Ella, though instead of hanging out at their split-level house, we were traveling in a hulking, metal, death-trap of a contraption more commonly known as an airplane.

We had been touring the country, doing aerial shows at some of the major cities throughout the States. While we were performing, members of the Coalition distributed pamphlets that contained some of the photos we had taken and a lot of mumbo-scientific-research-jumbo from which, I had personally drawn a simple conclusion: pollution sucks.

How's that for an un-educated mutant?

I was what one might call on edge. Claustrophobia combined with long plane rides tends to do that. The rest of the flock seemed fine, however. I heard Nudge complementing Ella on some new bracelet, and Gazzy asking my Mom where we were going. At that, I tuned in, interested in hearing what the plan was.

"New York," she told him. "Specifically, Times Square. This demonstration is going to be one of the biggest ones we've done."

I was pretty impressed, and I could tell the others were too.

"We should be arriving soon actually, so we should all get ready to go," she continued, looking at her watch."

Out of the plane? My heart raced at the thought.

* * *

The show had gone off without a hitch. We dived and banked, performing all of our best tricks. The enormous crowd loved it, cheering loudly while we soared overhead. It was great to finally stretch my wings out after the torturous hours spent cramped up in the plane.

Once we had landed, Mom had shown us into the office building we were using for the day and promised she would come up with us in a few minutes. We climbed into the elevator with Ella, stepping out once we reached the twelfth floor and walking down the carpeted hallway to conference room 4C.

We all piled inside the brightly lit office and took seats at the large wooden table in the center of the room. I turned and stared idly out of the windows that paneled the wall behind my chair, revealing the hordes of people and speeding cars on the street below.

We were all exhausted from the cross-country trip of the past few days, and nobody said much as we waited. Eventually, Nudge broke the silence with a rather unwelcome question.

"What do you… What do you think Fang's doing?" She quietly asked.

I could feel the room's atmosphere change instantly. Everyone was on high alert, waiting for me to respond, worried about my reaction.

"I'm sure he's okay, Nudge," _after all, he's the one who decided to leave_; I finished the sentence in my head. My voice came out rougher than I was aiming for, and I abruptly stood up and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind me before I did something I knew I would regret.

I went only a few steps down the hall before I heard the door open again. I turned around to see that Iggy had followed me.

"Max," he called, hesitating. It took a few seconds for me to reply, not trusting myself enough to keep from yelling at my best friend other than the leaving traitor.

"Yeah." It was difficult to speak.

"We really should talk about this, you know that, right?"

"There is nothing to talk about, Ig. He's gone. He's not coming back. End of story." My voice was too loud, but I was beyond caring

"No, that's not the story at all. That's like saying Cinderella snuck out, went to the ball, and returned home to remain a slave the rest of her miserable existence. You're ignoring the entire freaking point, Max."

In spite of myself, I smiled a little "See, that's why I don't let you tell the kids bedtime stories."

He continued as if I hadn't spoken.

"What if you had been in his place? What if you thought the only way to save him and the rest of us was to leave him behind? If we had been in his position, who wouldn't make the same decision?"

His voice softened again, "I'm sorry that you're hurting, but you need to be here for the other kids. He left them too. You need to realize that Fang wasn't trying to hurt you, but to help us all."

He took the two steps forward to close the gap between us and hugged me gently before grabbing my hand.

"You ready to go back inside?"

I pulled him along towards the door in response, jumping back in surprise when it swung open as I reached for the handle.

"Ella?"

"I'm gonna go find mom," she said, avoiding my eyes, before slipping around us and continuing down the hall towards the elevator.

Iggy was right. I was alienating my sister and my flock, making them feel as though they couldn't talk to me, couldn't look me in the eye.

I took a deep breath before stepping inside the room.

* * *

**whereXtheXlinesXoverlap is truly the reason this chapter made any sense. Let's all give her a round of applause!**


	9. Chapter 9

The dark-haired boy slowly began to descend as he approached the small town, angling his coal black wings towards the ground. He focused his extraordinary vision on the small areas infused with flickering light from the old fashioned lampposts placed intermittently along the otherwise seemingly abandoned stretch of road.

There was little for him to see and although the worst of the rain appeared to have passed off, there was still a slight mist in the air, blending colors further together. He could just make out the side of a neglected corner store, it's paint faded and chipped, peeling away from the wooden board it was supposed to hide.

Fang wondered why someone had thought he could benefit from a visit to Culver.

He landed quietly in a small alley beside the shop, pausing for a moment to listen for any sign of activity, before shaking his feathers in an attempt to dry them, folding in his wings and inching towards the entrance to the main road. He stopped again at the mouth of the intersection, listening intently, then began walking purposefully along the main drag, sticking to the shadows as much possible.

_This is why anonymous tips don't work_, Fang thought to himself. He had flown for miles through the rain, to arrive in a community that was really little more than a stretch of highway, with no idea what to do, what he was looking for, or who to ask for help.

As he moved silently down the street, skirting the puddles as best he could, he noticed a figure leaning against a streetlight up ahead. Fang slowed his pace as he studied the shadowy form. He judged that the person was quite tall, a few inches taller than his own 6'3, and combined with the width of what he thought was the shoulders, Fang decided that the person was most likely male. He seemed to have his hood drawn around his face to protect him from the light drizzle although his head appeared to be turned in Fang's direction as if he was expecting someone to appear.

Fang cautiously approached the figure, stopping when he was a few short strides away: close enough to appear casual and unconcerned while far enough that he could quickly take off should a problem arise. The only hitch was that the hood still blocked Fang from seeing the person's face.

"Are you the one who sent me the tip?" Fang asked, keeping his voice low in case he had somehow missed something. There might be other people, namely unsuspecting citizens, who would be slightly perturbed by a winged teenager appearing in their midst, nearby.

The man didn't respond.

"Look," Fang said, "I'm the person you're waiting for. Do you need proof or something?"

The cloaked head inclined slightly as if to tell Fang he was correct.

Fang had rather expected as much, and steadily took a few steps backward, out of the pool of light, before extending his wings slowly, watching the figure for a reaction.

As they were almost fully unfolded, Fang heard a quiet splashing sound behind him, as if someone had stepped in one of the many puddles. He rapidly folded his wings in again and whipped around to see what had happened. He studied the street, straining his eyes to see through the mist, but saw no one.

He turned back towards the figure.

"Did you hear that?" Fang asked, his voice taking on an urgent tone.

At that moment, the figure's hood slipped backwards, although Fang saw only a gleam of metal and a pulsing red light before he lost consciousness.

* * *

**Shoutouts to whereXtheXlinesXoverlap and I'mDifferent-GetOverIt**


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